Elevation Counseling

This is a combination of a 5+ for my therapist who is amazing and a zero for their office staff. My therapist who I would be fine giving you name if message me, is really wonderful. It's really hard to find therapy in Albuquerque and when you find a good one you keep them. The company is just not good at communication and billing. When I first had a therapist w them they said they would cancel my appt if I didn't pay my out of pocket.....of about $25. Now I have issues with them being able to create a statement of charges, payments and patient portion. They are asking me to just believe what I owe w no proof. I am blessed to have insurance to pay what it does, and I feel for that reason they are taking advantage of me.

This review is based solely on the counselor I visited. My husband of nearly 19 years and I went and saw Leatrice Allen for marriage counseling to improve our communication. The level of failure that ensued was spectacular. Not only did she focus almost entirely on my husbands ptsd for most of the 5 sessions, which we were not there for, she also said a few things that really shocked me. For example, on session 5 (in which she had no idea what my name was) we were asked to name 5 things we were each going to do to improve our relationship. One of those things for me, was to become an RN. This would alleviate a lot of tension in our home being that my husband and I work together. Ms. Allen disagreed with this saying that I didn't have an adequate passion for it (how would she know? She didn't even know my name.)In session 6, she asked us to name 5 things we'd like our partner to do to improve our relationship. I asked that my husband include me in decision making, effectively treating me as a partner, as his decisions create added responsibilities for me. Her suggestion to me was that I better manage my time, and have my children cook dinner every night, rather than expect partnership in my marriage. It was at that point I got upset and walked out. My finest hour? Absolutely not. But, once I left, she then berated me to my husband and called me "a psycho". Now, I'm sure it's easy to think, maybe she is a psycho, lol, but I guess you'll just have to take my word for it. Also, she talked about herself a lot. She was a divorcee and single mother to multiple kids, put herself through various schools, was a professor at 2 colleges, etc. I feel like she'd be hard pressed to recall anything about most of her patients, evidenced by the fact that she still couldn't recall my name after 5 sessions and I assume a review of our file prior to those sessions.At the end of the day, our marriage did not improve, our communication did not improve, and we are currently in the middle of a divorce that started immediately following our final session. Our marriage survived 5 war tours, 5 cross country moves, 3 teenage girls, running a business and all the work that entails, but could not survive marriage counseling with Ms. Allen.

I came to talk to someone about depression related to chronic pain, It had taken a while for me to even notice, the pain and the living with it had just kept piling up on me and I was running out of "Cope". My insurance covered it totally for the first month, and after that its been a low copay. Nice friendly Staff, and the counselor ive been working with has been both nicely supportive and capable of prying up the loose floorboards where i've left some things. I got some help by way of a medication change by my doctor, but even now that im in less pain and more hopeful, its good to have someone to talk to to help focus that energy and building the tools to better cope if the pain comes back as bad as it was.

It was easy to set up an appointment and the wait time for a counselor was really short. That's about all the positive about this practice. I came here to talk to a therapist about a personal matter, and it so turned out the therapist I got was probably the worst therapist I have ever encountered. Aside from being a horrible therapist, she doesn't seem like the greatest human being either. During my session with her, Maureen Brickley was verbally aggressive, derogatory and even misogynistic. I mean, being a therapist, is not exactly rocket science. All you have to do is listen, acknowledge and be present with a person. This doesn't take the years of pointless "schooling" they have to go through, it only takes being a decent human being. I came to talk to her about a sexual assault issue, which I reported and was told me no crime occurred and then promptly referred me to a sexual assault center where I can go for "free" therapy. Ultimately, I ended up here to discuss the issue. In my short session with her, she seemed to belittle me just for being pretty, actually stating that women hit a wall by the time they turn 40. She stated that if I really want to make a change in this world, I should volunteer at a rape crisis center. She said that no one would take me seriously. She also went into an account about her own former sexual abuse when she was a child, with the take-away message being along the lines of, "If I had to put up with it, so do you. That's just the way the world works." She ended the session abruptly before our time was even up.I'm not sure if the particular issue I brought up was triggering for her, but I feel as though the way she conducted herself was completely unacceptable. Her sexist comment about women hitting a wall when they are 40 was completely uncalled for. I called the clinic to complain about the therapist's unprofessional behavior. I also reported her to the state psychology board but for whatever reason, the hearing was postponed and ultimately never happened. Maybe she knows how to get out of being held accountable for her abusive behavior towards others. Maybe she needs more training or education. Then again, talking to people and listening doesn't require an education. It requires humanity. Not that difficult.Aside from the really horrible experience with this particular therapist, I don't have much experience with this clinic. It seems hospitable enough. However, my experience with this particular therapist does not make the clinic look good.

I went to Elevation Counseling in May 2018, the staff is friendly and so was Kirstin Stillwell, she came across as caring and compassionate. Until I contacted her on May 31, 2018 requesting written documentation, for my personnel file.On June 4, 2018 Kristin replied," there is a specific form to fill out (often part of the FMLA paperwork). Is your employer just asking for a letter? If so, let me know if emailing it to you is appropriate with them."June 12, 2018 I replied to Kirstin, informing her I checked with HR and there is no specific form and requested she send me the documentation via email. I never received the email, she has not returned my phone calls x2 and has only responded to one, of five emails in the past four months. Last email I sent was July 26, 2018 and I still have not heard from her. Kirsten has added to my stress and now I have to make another copay and wait four weeks for an appointment with another provider.